The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) and Google News have announced the launch of their new "Raw Data, Real Stories" programme, a $40,000 pitching initiative open to journalists and non-fiction storytellers. The initiative celebrates experimentation and collaboration between story and technology to bring raw data to life. The submission deadline is 14 January 2019.

Raw Data, Real Storiesis set to break new ground by re-imagining data’s role in storytelling within the non-fiction landscape and support the development of data journalism and the creation of a major new piece of work. By inviting journalists and storytellers from all backgrounds to submit ideas for a data-driven story, Google News Initiative and AIDC will select 4 proposals to receive $5,000 in support to work with a technology team to develop a proof of concept to be pitched at AIDC 2019. The winning team will receive $40,000 of project funds to turn their raw data into a new creative work for a real audience.

“Helping people to tell stories through data lies at the heart of Google’s mission to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. technology is transforming how we can create and consume information, and we’re thrilled to partner with AIDC to create an opportunity for innovation and experimentation in data journalism.”, says Nic Hopkins, Google News Lab Lead for Australia and New Zealand.

The initiative is platform agnostic and ideas that are experimental in form are highly encouraged.

Projects will be selected for:

Their creative use of data

The timeliness of the story

The originality of the proof of concept

A journalistic element to the approach

The initiative welcomes all ideas for data-driven stories, but particularly encourages those that highlight diversity and inclusion. Journalists and storytellers who are not working with an in-house technology team can be provided a list of creative technology teams to work with if selected.

Although the initiative is open to non-fiction creators from around the world, at least one of the project team members must be Australian. Submissions are open until 14 January 2019 and questions regarding your application can be sent directly to pitch@aidc.com.au.